UCI Giving Day 2024

If you missed the opportunity to participate in Giving Day, it’s not too late to support Gender Diversity! You may make a gift anytime using our general online giving form: Donation - Brilliant Future: The Campaign for UCI Secure giving.

In 2016, Dr. Ajanta Naidu, Gender Diversity medical director, set out alongside Dr. Lynn Hunt to create a transgender health program. This program would have the overarching goal of addressing the consistent denial of human, civil and constitutional rights of transgender individuals by closing the gap of knowledge surrounding the transgender community. 

Since that time, the Gender Diversity Program continues to be Orange County’s only interdisciplinary healthcare program devoted exclusively to providing care for transgender and gender-diverse young people and adults. Our services include:  

• Patient navigation
• Puberty suppression
• Gender-affirming hormone therapy
• Sexual health, education, and HIV prevention 
• Specialty referrals
• Community connections and support
• Provider and trainee education
• School and community engagement

While there have been many strides made in increasing gender inclusivity in healthcare, the transgender community continues to face incredible hardships. In 2023, there have been over 400 anti-LGBTQ bills proposed in the U.S. Over 200 of these bills seek to block access to best-practice gender-affirming care, bar transgender youth from participating in sports, and limit transgender people from using public services and facilities. Transgender people from across the country are pursuing refuge in California and looking to the UC system as LGBTQ healthcare equality leaders. 

In recognition of his efforts to create positive change within healthcare for transgender people, Gender Diversity Program’s Associate Medical Director Jeffrey Vu, NP, received a prestigious 2024 Lauds & Laurels Award from the UCI Alumni Association. Vu will soon be the first and only provider in Orange County certified by the World Professors Professional Association of Transgender Health.

Through the continued efforts of the Gender Diversity Program leadership, we are proud to announce that our team has grown once again with the addition of nurse practitioner, Cynthia Antonio. It is through the ongoing support of our allies that the Gender Diversity Program is able to grow alongside the increasing needs of the transgender patients that we serve.

This Giving Day, please consider supporting the UCI Health Gender Diversity Program to create a healthier, happier tomorrow for our patients and community. Your support of our program will allow us to improve our engagement with the community we serve while providing education and information free of cost.
 
Any gift, regardless of amount, will help us transform our community outreach and partnerships that connect the transgender community with local organizations, businesses and healthcare providers that are transgender affirming.